BMI might be the most worthless metric of health ever invented.
People with low BMI aren't more active, they are just less hungry, 'run hotter'
271–280 of 350 posts
Re: People with low BMI aren't more active, they are just less hungry, 'run hotter'
#272Earlier quoted context omitted.
you missed the important point, IMO: being hungry. it's bizarre that we can be mechanically and nutritionally full yet still be hungry. These low BMI individuals were not hungry. WTF is going on with the hunger response being so messed up in a huge segment of the population?
It's interesting how effectively GLP-1 (ozempic, etc.) eliminate that, though.
This entire "you just need to eat better" discussion seems to fall apart badly in the face of medicines like GLP-1 agonists (e.g., Ozempic/Wegovy.)
It's like arguing that pneumonia can be cured through "healthy living" even after you've established the mechanism and effectiveness of penicillin.
Re: People with low BMI aren't more active, they are just less hungry, 'run hotter'
#273Earlier quoted context omitted.
The 'it's all my fault' attitude isn't really helpful for you to solve those problems however. Binge eating can be driven by a myriad of factors, mostly psychological. I'm fat too, and I'm comfortable with that word, I dont like medicalizing it with term obesity. While my weight is at least partially my own fault, its at least influenced by factors outside of my control - upbringing, genetics, societal factors, and a…
Whether or not the realization that overeating is my problem helps me solve the problem is orthogonal to whether or not it's true. It is objectively true that I overeat. In my case, I believe I overeat because I have poor impulse control and I enjoy both the act of eating and the sensation of being stuffed with food. Furthermore I particularly enjoy greasy and carby foods, pizza particularly. If I ate less (or stuffe…
The additional shame I suspect you feel about your eating habits, likely leads you to binge eat more however - thats my larger point, it creates a negative feelings cycle that makes the problem worse.
You probably binge eat to plug an emotional or stress hole, its literally a form of self medicating. Thats not something that willpower or blaming yourself can solve.
Re: People with low BMI aren't more active, they are just less hungry, 'run hotter'
#274Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I've known very active cyclists that couldn't lose weight despite riding hundred mile rides weekly. Isn’t this against the laws of physics? If you’re burning a ton of energy and not eating excessively, where are their bodies getting mass from to maintain weight?
100 miles weekly isn't THAT much in terms of kcal. 10 miles is about 600 kcal. 100 miles is 6000 kcal, let's say 7000 to round that to 1000 kcal a day. Eating 1000 kcal more a day is pretty easy to do without noticing. Especially when you eat a lot on the day that you biked (cause "you earned it"). For example 2 liter bottle of coke is 800 kcal and 1 protein bar is about 250 kcal and you're already over the budget (a…
Paradoxically, pushing a larger body through wind resistance should burn even more calories! The people I knew weren't explicitly trying to lose weight, they were cycling for their cardiovascular health and on that front their doctors were happy. But, yeah, distance cyclists tend to eat their fill.
Re: People with low BMI aren't more active, they are just less hungry, 'run hotter'
#275Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's interesting how effectively GLP-1 (ozempic, etc.) eliminate that, though.
This entire "you just need to eat better" discussion seems to fall apart badly in the face of medicines like GLP-1 agonists (e.g., Ozempic/Wegovy.) It's like arguing that pneumonia can be cured through "healthy living" even after you've established the mechanism and effectiveness of penicillin.
It fits into a mode of thought where fat people are fat because of character flaws, and thin people are thin because of superior moral character. Thus, it justifies the better treatment of thin people over fat people.
I've even heard the "thinness is a sign of godliness" folks get really angry at the suggestion of using GLP-1 agonists, because it's "lazy" and "cheating."
Re: People with low BMI aren't more active, they are just less hungry, 'run hotter'
#276My weight was a consistent 150 pounds since I was 14 years old. I joked to myself I was a robot since it was incredibly consistent for decades. I would often go entire days without eating. My family says as a kid or teen I would always cover my food with a napkin to hide what I had not eaten. Even as an adult I would rarely eat a fast food combo there would be half the burger and fries left over. I ate what I need ev…
If anyone has been on synthroid and it stops working for you, check with your doctor about switching to natural desiccated thyroid, made a big difference for me. Also see if avoiding goitrogenic foods works for you (like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruciferous_vegetables); keeping a food diary for a few months proved to me how impactful they are for me, YMMV.
Would the interference from cruciferous vegetables show up on the bloodwork, i.e TSH levels and free T3, T4?
Re: People with low BMI aren't more active, they are just less hungry, 'run hotter'
#277There is so much content saying “calorie counting doesn’t work!”, but actually it really does. If you eat less than you burn you will lose weight.
"Calorie counting" describes the input. This article is about the output. Maybe read it instead of giving a tautological but also wrong dismissal?
tautological — smart word!
100 HN brownie points
Re: People with low BMI aren't more active, they are just less hungry, 'run hotter'
#278Hunger is mediated by a bunch of hormones and you can test for some of those, but there is no test for the feeling of hunger. As a comparison, it is famously very hard for doctors to understand pain; it is also difficult for patients to communicate about pain. The feeling of hunger is not comparable between people. Hunger is driven by multiple sensations (blood sugar, stomach stretch, hormone levels) and by cognitive…
I feel like anybody, including scientists, that speaks about hunger when it relates to being overweight, has never been overweight, or is lying to themselves.
We don’t eat because we’re hungry, we eat because we’re bored.
Re: People with low BMI aren't more active, they are just less hungry, 'run hotter'
#279Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are some fruits and vegetables and lean meats (which absolutely includes "leaner cuts of steak with the fat trimmed off") that I quite sincerely like as much as junk food, if not more. Two pan-fried salmon fillets and a big bowl of brussels sprouts with butter beats the pants off even a pretty good burger-and-fries, the main downside being the prep (and, well, the cost for most people). A pound of fresh strawbe…
I agree that a salmon filet is tasty. I don't often eat a pound of strawberries though. Both of those are too expensive to eat regularly, and like you said a salmon filet is a lot of effort compared to a burger. > I'll have the cheesecake if I really feel like it. That tells me the writing on the wall, and let me be clear about this, the writing is what needs to be written and what people need to read - you're making…
> That tells me the writing on the wall, and let me be clear about this, the writing is what needs to be written and what people need to read - you're making the decision to NOT have cheesecake when you only kind of feel like it. It's a game of weighing the pros and cons and learning to be satisfied with what you know you should have instead of turning around one day and loving the healthy food more than the unhealthy.
Let me rephrase: since changing my diet to include more low-energy-density foods (and being deliberate about eating large portions of them), I find myself less frequently even considering having dessert after dinner.
> You're discounting the calories / gram of butter in your first calculation and including it in the second.
No? I'll put 7g of butter (50 calories) on a 300g potato (280 calories) and not at all feel like I needed more butter. Even if you double that amount of butter, it comes out to 1.2 cal/g.
Re: People with low BMI aren't more active, they are just less hungry, 'run hotter'
#280Earlier quoted context omitted.
One can and will lose weight (say, a 220 pound man) by eating two medium McDonald's Big Mac Menu a day (no sauce, diet soda option). It amounts to 1800 kcal per day. Being lean trumps quality of food and "healthy" whatever for health short-term. That's a set result at this point. That is, and this not medical advice, but something I have a done a few times while on vacation, you can do a 10-15-21 days of the above-me…
The McRib is 550 cals. I'm now wondering if one could do a weight maintenance program by simply eating 3 McRib's a day whenever they come back on the menu.
When I'm cutting (like right now) I will sometimes eat 3 McDoubles as my nutrition for the whole day. The macros are excellent.